Rep. Bera in Substack: Why I Oppose the "SAVE America Act"

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Representative Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-06) released a video statement on “Ami’s Substack” explaining why he will vote against the SAVE America Act. 

You can watch the full video here and read his statement below: 

This afternoon, we’re going to vote on something called the SAVE America Act. On paper, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act sounds pretty good, but it would fundamentally change how you can register to vote.

Under this bill, you’d have to show proof of citizenship—and that would not include a driver’s license or a military ID. For most Americans, it would mean having to show a passport or a birth certificate.

That would upend voter registration drives—efforts that everyday citizens participate in—and it would make it much harder to register to vote online. In California, we actually have made it a lot easier for folks to register to vote.

This is totally unnecessary. 

We’ve seen case after case where people allege voter fraud, but it’s actually very rare in the United States. Think about the 2020 presidential election: President Trump filed multiple lawsuits, his supporters filed multiple lawsuits, and time and again, when ballots were reviewed and recounted, it was incredibly rare that any were thrown out or that actual voter fraud was found.

The SAVE Act is also a real problem because it would disproportionately harm some voters, including in red states.

In America, your vote is your voice. That’s how we express our opinions—by voting for individuals, voting for propositions, voting for ballot measures we support, or voting against the ones we don’t. It’s incredibly important that we encourage every American to vote in our elections. That’s core to our democracy—and this act makes it harder.

It would also discriminate against women. A lot of women—over 50%—change their names when they get married. That means the name they currently use may not match their birth certificate, so they may not be able to use their birth certificate as proof.

Additionally, the majority of Americans don’t have passports; disproportionately, it’s wealthier, college-educated Americans who do. So this would disproportionately impact lower-income folks and people without a college education.

I’m all about protecting the integrity of our elections—but the SAVE Act doesn’t do that. It makes it much harder for Americans to register to vote and to cast their ballots.

That’s why I’m going to vote against the SAVE Act.